Keto..help

talls95

Hi everyone. I am looking to start the keto diet. I’ve researched it and looks like it’s something I can stick to more than anything else that I have ever tried. My problem is the whole macros thing. I don’t understand it. Can someone please help me understand? I would so much appreciate it.

lgfrie

All foods consist of three macronutrients (aka "macros"): carbohydrates, protein, and fat. The other things that are in food are micronutrients, such as zinc, iron, etc. Micronutrients are generally things you consume in amounts less than 100 mg per day, whereas macros are consumed in amounts measured in grams per day.

In Keto, you try to get a balance of 70 % fat, 20 % protein, and 10 % carbs. Or another way to say it is, less than 20 grams of carbs per day. To put this in perspective, a single slice of bread with nothing on it has around 16 mg of carbs, and a bagel with nothing on it has around 50-60 mgs. A typical portion of pasta (5 oz) has 35 mgs. So going Keto means giving up those kinds of foods. However, there are a lot of other things you can eat, and some people really like keto foods. You just have to study up a bit on what to eat to make it work.

Keep in mind that while there's nothing wrong with keto, it's also not going to help you lose weight faster than non-keto. It's just a different way to eat, that's it. So if you end up liking keto food, great! And if you don't, there's no reason to stay on keto. The only thing that'll determine how much weight you lose is how many calories you consume.

kshama2001

Since your question was well answered above I will bring up another point. You might have read you do not have to count calories when you do keto. This is only true if you find keto so filling that it naturally puts you in a calorie deficit.

Since I don't find fat satiating, I would definitely have to count calories in order to make sure I stayed in a calorie deficit while eating keto. (Which I wouldn't do in the first place, since I am aware that I don't find fats especially filling and in fact find fatty food easy to over eat.)

EmIsMotivated

There are apps on phones that help you track your macros. It's called 'carb manager'. When I was big into Keto I used this app and it helped me tremendously!

kerryperrie

I'm starting in the New Year so also found this post really helpful. I've bought a few cookbooks and have decided to do a weekly meal planner to try and monitor my food a bit better. Best of luck x

candylilacs

Pick a fatty protein and a salad.

Fatty protein: chicken thigh and drumstick, 85% hamburger, beef ribs, and nice slice of steak, lamb chops, salmon, eggs

Fatty sides: cheese, cream cheese, avocado, butter, whole milk (fair life)

Vegetables: green leafy (kale, romaine, chard, spring mix, spinach, arugula, etc), zucchini, cucumbers, anything that is 5 carbs per pop (tomatoes and root vegetables, and fruits, are forbidden to you). Avoid sugars and sugar alcohols in dressing.

You might to start under 20 carbs a day, at least for the first two weeks. You might want to 30-40 after that.

lalalacroix

kshama2001 wrote: »

Since your question was well answered above I will bring up another point. You might have read you do not have to count calories when you do keto. This is only true if you find keto so filling that it naturally puts you in a calorie deficit.

Since I don't find fat satiating, I would definitely have to count calories in order to make sure I stayed in a calorie deficit while eating keto. (Which I wouldn't do in the first place, since I am aware that I don't find fats especially filling and in fact find fatty food easy to over eat.)

I'm confused why anyone would disagree with this post. For the record, calories are king in regards to weight loss. Regardless of the macro split, a person will not lose weight unless they are consuming less than they burn.

tcunbeliever

I do keto for migraine control, and I can promise you, it's not hard for me to gain weight on keto. I can't imagine it's hard for anyone who likes keto food to gain weight on keto. Track your food just like usual...consider protein a minimum, eat at least that much...consider carbs a maximum, don't eat more than that...the rest will fall into line.

Unless you are doing keto for neurological benefits, there's no reason you have to eat all the fat, you can just eat whatever you need to feel satisfied with your meals.

kshama2001

lalalacroix wrote: »

kshama2001 wrote: »

Since your question was well answered above I will bring up another point. You might have read you do not have to count calories when you do keto. This is only true if you find keto so filling that it naturally puts you in a calorie deficit.

Since I don't find fat satiating, I would definitely have to count calories in order to make sure I stayed in a calorie deficit while eating keto. (Which I wouldn't do in the first place, since I am aware that I don't find fats especially filling and in fact find fatty food easy to over eat.)

I'm confused why anyone would disagree with this post. For the record, calories are king in regards to weight loss. Regardless of the macro split, a person will not lose weight unless they are consuming less than they burn.

I think every time I've said "I don't find fat satiating" someone disagrees with me, which I find amusing.

Someone disagreed with me when I said I had vegetables rotting in my compost pile

AlabasterVerve

lalalacroix wrote: »

kshama2001 wrote: »

Since your question was well answered above I will bring up another point. You might have read you do not have to count calories when you do keto. This is only true if you find keto so filling that it naturally puts you in a calorie deficit.

Since I don't find fat satiating, I would definitely have to count calories in order to make sure I stayed in a calorie deficit while eating keto. (Which I wouldn't do in the first place, since I am aware that I don't find fats especially filling and in fact find fatty food easy to over eat.)

I'm confused why anyone would disagree with this post. For the record, calories are king in regards to weight loss. Regardless of the macro split, a person will not lose weight unless they are consuming less than they burn.

I'm assuming the objection is to the first line, "since your question was well answered above".

psuLemon

lgfrie wrote: »

All foods consist of three macronutrients (aka "macros"): carbohydrates, protein, and fat. The other things that are in food are micronutrients, such as zinc, iron, etc. Micronutrients are generally things you consume in amounts less than 100 mg per day, whereas macros are consumed in amounts measured in grams per day.

In Keto, you try to get a balance of 70 % fat, 20 % protein, and 10 % carbs. Or another way to say it is, less than 20 grams of carbs per day. To put this in perspective, a single slice of bread with nothing on it has around 16 mg of carbs, and a bagel with nothing on it has around 50-60 mgs. A typical portion of pasta (5 oz) has 35 mgs. So going Keto means giving up those kinds of foods. However, there are a lot of other things you can eat, and some people really like keto foods. You just have to study up a bit on what to eat to make it work.

Keep in mind that while there's nothing wrong with keto, it's also not going to help you lose weight faster than non-keto. It's just a different way to eat, that's it. So if you end up liking keto food, great! And if you don't, there's no reason to stay on keto. The only thing that'll determine how much weight you lose is how many calories you consume.

My one argument against this advice is that protein is probably a bit lower than what a person should consume. Ideally a person should consume 1.5-2.2g/kg while losing weight. Higher when you are leaner and more active, and a bit lower if a person is more overweight.

Overall, macros arent as important as just keeping carbs below 50g. Additional, a person should keep sodium higher than typical at 3500-5000mg.

maureenkhilde

You might want to consider as one of the items to track is fiber. Why because with the carbs you are consuming, you could run into the issue of not meeting daily fiber. I dropped sugar and track Fiber daily. And actually find I need to supplement it at times.
Agree regarding sodium needs to be higher than what is considered the normal average. And I have read over and over in blogs, off MFP site, that people doing Keto should be drinking lots of water. More so than what the normal guidelines. That is to help offset what is known as Keto Flu type symptoms.

nicte2018

I am 350+ lbs and my keto macros are a bit different. 15% carb, 60% fat, 25% protein. If I eat at my calories and perfectly on ratio, that’s about 50g carb/day. I don’t stress how the fat protein mix falls out, some days I’m eating lean meats, sometimes not. I do really hold to my overall calorie number and my carb % and that works well for me.

A mix of meats and dairy is generally sufficient and I try to get all my carbs from healthful sources like vegetables. I find that even if I can “afford” it calorie-wise, fast sugars like fruit, candy, or even breads kick off cravings so it’s simpler to avoid them than moderate at this point in my journey.

lemurcat2

talls95 wrote: »

Hi everyone. I am looking to start the keto diet. I’ve researched it and looks like it’s something I can stick to more than anything else that I have ever tried. My problem is the whole macros thing. I don’t understand it. Can someone please help me understand? I would so much appreciate it.

What don't you understand about it (unless it's all been answered already)? That would help us address your confusion.

An app was mentioned above that tracks macros, so let me plug another app that does that -- MFP. If you log your foods on MFP, it will show the macros. You will ideally want to track fiber too, and IMO it makes more sense to focus on total grams than the percentages (and the pie chart is silly and not helpful at all, since it confuses people who look at it, say, right after breakfast).

For keto it still makes sense to have protein at a minimum of .7-.8 g per lb of a healthy goal weight (for example if aiming for 120, I'd try to get at least 95 g of protein). The carb limit really depends on activity and body weight, and you'll see lots of different numbers, but under 50 g total should be fine (or maybe under 35 g net, which might be more than 50 g total -- net is total carbs minus fiber if you are in the US or Canada). Then fat for the rest, although if you are not hitting a reasonable calorie number, you should push yourself to eat more (and it's possible for many of us to go over, depending on what we choose).

Since you said it seems more sustainable than other diets, you must have an idea of what you would eat in a normal day, so maybe log a sample day and see how the cals and macros look.

I will also suggest that using carbs mostly on vegetables, and some sources of healthy fat and/or protein that come with carbs (like nuts, greek yogurt, avocado) is a good idea when carbs are so low, and that rather than getting all fat from foods like meat and cheese, consider eggs, avocados, olives and olive oil, fatty fish (okay, that's a type of meat), and of course nuts and seeds as other sources of fat.